Here's the Complaint, filed late last week in an Oklahoma federal court, challenging the EPA and Corps of Engineers' new "waters of the United States" rule under the Clean Water Act.
According to the lawsuit, the new WOTUS rules are an attempt to expand the regulatory authority of the agencies well beyond what the Clean Water Act allows.
This lawsuit joins two others recently filed. The first was a complaint in a South Dakota federal court filed by 13 states, and the other a complaint by the State of Oklahoma, filed in federal court in the Northern District of Oklahoma.
All three make the same general allegations: the EPA and the Corps of Engineers went too far under both the Clean Water Act and the Commerce Clause, and are attempting to regulate property well beyond the reach of "navigable water of the United States" or "waters of the United States." Remember SWANCC and Rapanos?
We'll be speaking about this issue and related (availability of judicial review for Corps' jurisdictional determinations) at the upcoming Land Use Institute in Chicago (July 30, 2015).
These cases are just beginning, so stay tuned.
Complaint, Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. EPA, No. 15CV-386 JED (D. Ok. July 10, 2015)
